Elevator guide means



Jan; 26, 1943. LE ROY H.KIESLING' 2,309,123?

ELEVATOR GUIDE MEANS Filed June '6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS Jan.26, 1943. LE ROY H. KIESLING 2,309,123

ELEVATOR GUIDE MEANS v Filed June 6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 A' 2 a 10f5 ff AT ORNEY\$ Patented Jan. 26, 1943 UNITED SKATES PATEN'i OFFICEELEVATOR GUIDE MEANS Le Roy H. Kiesling, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 6, 1941, Serial No. 396,821

Claims.

This invention is a novel elevator guid means, comprising runningdevices or guide elements adapted to be mounted upon elevators for thesecure and smooth guidance of the car in its vertical travel, as betweenfixed guide rails, whether within a vertical shaft or in openconstruction; such guide means being of utility for elevators of varioustypes, including freight and passenger elevators, and this term beingintended to include dum'bwaiters, and as well the heavy counterweightsfrequently connected to travel alongside an elevator. It is conventionaltoguide an elevator between rails located at the. opposite sides of theshaft or way, although in some cases the car may receive guidance by theuse of a rail at one side only, the omission. of the other rail beingoffset by the provision of sm l upp emental means to. hold the guidemeans of the car in snug running contact wi h th s n le rail; nd in ether of such cases the. present invent on s of, advantageous. utility.

In the prior art have been known a number of: types. and manyconstructions f e e ator u d means. and these n eneral may be di d dinto two types, according to whether the guiding par-ts on the car are,adapted to ride or run along the ui e rail as shoes th simp e s idi g orslippi onta t and i e r on t e o h r hand, r011- in en ag ment etweenar: and ran. Bot ty ha e. e n 1011a k o n a d used. he. in typ havingthe advantage of simplicity and effectiveness, but being more subject towear and cone uent ina racy o fit, l sen ss. a d noi nes and f c l e ryreaso s he r li o gu lemen po e s h sm ot ss nd P rm n e rende n i sohigh y de i ab that much effort hasbeen devoted to devising rollingguide means for elevators, the principles of which are not subject tocertain mechanical objections and drawbacks. The diificulties inproviding av wholly satisfactory roller-type guide means are well known,a problem having been presented and still existing to aiiord rollerguidance to an elevator in a manner to secure all of the theoreticaladvantages, even in the not uncommon cases of travel as fast as 1000feet per minute. A review of the prevailing state of the rt. c e a ol rtype u de and or e pi ed a ts disclosing s ch st u tures in-. iis t e ai o a ea ar e of atempts to m et e. underlying requirements of such astructure.

The e e a ob ts oi the pres nt inv n ion a e o ro id icr elevator idanca oller u de. means hic avoids the drawbacks of heretofore knownconstructions and provides in a practical, way the theoreticaladvantages of such type of structure. A further object is to afiord anelevator guide means of the roller type which is not merely efficient inuse but is simple of structure, sturdy and durable, and not prohibitivein cost.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will beexplained in, or understood from, the hereinafter described disclosureof one or more illustrative embodiments of the inven-. tion. To theattainment of such objects and advantages the invention consists in thenovel elevator guide means and the novel features of combination,construction and arrangement herein illustrated or described.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. l, on a small scale, is a perspectiveview of a conventional elevator car with suitable mountings, includingthe present invention, for its vertical guidance between upright fixedguide rails.

Fig. 2, on a larger scale, may be considered a right hand elevation viewof one of the left hand rolling guide means and rail, certain structuralparts of the car being shown in vertical section view taken on thesection line 22 indicated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a. front elevation of the same parts shown in Fig. 2, that is,looking toward the right hand side of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4, on the same scale with Figs. 2 and 3, is a top plan view, therail and certain parts of the guide means being indicated in section toshow interior structure.

Fig. 5, on a still larger scale, is a more or less diagrammatic viewillustrating certain principles of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a View generally similar to Fig. 4 but showing a modificationof structure; and

Fig. '7 is another similar view showing a S ill further modification orembodiment of the invention.

conventionally shown are the following general elevator structuralelements. In Fig. 1 is indicated at one side a part of a shaft wall ill,and this may have a metal lining H as. shown in certain other figures.By means of clips l2, Fig. 4, a T-form of rail l4 may be attached to thebuilding or wall structure, two opposite such rails being shown in Fig.1, each comprising a foot or base 5 for its mounting, and a shank l6.Other conventional fixed rail forms are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, with anyof which and others the present 7 invention may be employed. a

In all of the illustrated structures each of the guiding rails ischaracterized as having a form in which there are three guidingsurfaces, which are here defined as a front surface [1, furthest removedfrom the shaft wall, a lefthand surface 18 and a righthand surface l9.This front and these two opposite side guiding surfaces are assumed tobe smooth or suitably finished to serve for the proper guidance of theelevator shoe devices riding thereon. The front rail surface I! meetsthe left surface I8 at a front corner of the rail and similarly meetsthe surface I9 at another front corner. This is a conventional form ofrail, and one advantage of the present invention as to be disclosed, isthat it may be used in association with preexisting and standard formsof fixed guide rails, so that an elevator may be equipped with thepresent improvement without need of altering, reconstructing orreplacing the rails. As already indicated, a car may be guided from oneinstead of a pair of such rails, if the omission of the other thereof isrecompensed by the providing of some substitute to hold the guided caragainst the firstmentioned rail.

The car 2| is shown for convenience simply as an open box, with sidewalls, roof and floor, and these are surrounded by what may be termed ayoke structure comprising a pair of structural uprights 22interconnected above and below by crossheads or bolsters. The uprightsare shown as channel members, preferably exterior to the car, and eachcrosshead is shown as comprising a pair of horizontal channel membersspaced slightly apart, connected to the uprights and preferablystrengthened and closed above or below by a horizontal top or bottomplate 24. On these crossheads or the plates 24 are mounted the guidemeans to be described and, conventionally, there may be a guide means ateach end of each crosshead, a total of four as indicated in Fig. 1.

So much of the structure is well known and may be conventional. Eachguide means hereof may be generally described as comprising a carrier,mounted upon the car or crosshead and giving support to a pair ofseparate guide elements, preferably opposed to each other, andcollectively embracing the guide rail and riding upon its three guidesurfaces, at the front, left and right sides thereof; at least one, andprefer ably both, of said guide means consisting each of a guide rollerwhich is mounted upon the carrier by bearings so as to rotate about asubstantially horizontal axis which is diagonally inclined to the planesof the adjacent front and side bearing surfaces of the rail, and forthat matter inclined to all three of the surfaces I1, [8 and I9; eachsuch guide roller being characterized by a structure having at its rimtwo rolling faces that are adapted to run respectively upon the frontsurface and upon one side surface of the rail, in such a way that theroller straddles one of the two front corners of the guide rail and withrolling contact at the rail front and adjacent side surface. Asspecifically illustrated this structure may be further described asfollows.

Describing now each of the guide means of the set, it may be attachedupon the car top or bottom, preferably upon the crosshead cover plate24, by means of bolts 26. Each guide device comprises a fixture 21 thebase of which is shown attached to the crosshead by the bolts 26 andeach being formed with a barrel slideway 28, conveniently madecylindrical to contain interior cylindrical sliding parts. Forsimplicity the description will be applied to the upper left guidedevice in Fig. 1.

The cylinder or barrel 28 gives guidance to a carrier 30 upon which therolling elements are actually mounted as will be described. The carriercomprises a plunger 3| slidable smoothly within the cylinder, thishaving a, shank 32 extending through to the inner end, where it emergesfrom the barrel and carries a stop or nut limiting the outward movementof the carrier as caused by a strong resilient means or spring 34.

At the outer end of the plunger, facing the guide rail, the carrier 30is formed with a head, from which rigidly project diagonally, preferablyeach at 45 to the carrier length or axis a pair of studs or axles 35,upon which the respective rollers turn, each such axle carrying at itsend a nut or collar 36 to confine the rolling parts thereon. The carrierhead and axles in effect constitute a Y-shape fork, and on each stud maybe means for adjusting the exact position of the roller to cooperatewith the guide rail. The springs 34 while not always essential arepreferable, holding the opposite guide means snugly against the oppositerails, under resilient pressure, with the car in steady equilibriumbetween them.

Roller or ball bearings are highly desirable, and Fig. 4 showsconventionally a double thrust and radial bearing consisting of aninside race or ring 38 confined upon the stud and an outside bearingring 39 secured within the roller 4| or 42, as by a drive fit.

The left and right guide rollers 41 and 42 are preferably identical formanufacturing reasons, but are arranged symmetrically to each other withrespect to the rail. A total of these two rollers is sumcient foreffective guidance with the present invention, although if desired, eachof the roller guide means might be supplemented by duplicate rollers,and these might be in staggered arrangement, although preferablydirectly opposed to each other on the rail.

As already stated each of the rollers 41 and 42 is mounted to rotateabout a horizontal axis which is diagonally inclined to a vertical planeextending through the plunger axis and at right angles to the frontguide surface ll. These axes are indicated at 43, and each is shown setat a diagonal to said vertical plane, the two axes being of course theaxes of the studs 35. The diagonal angle is preferably 45 but might bevaried and, the arrangement being symmetrical, the two axes 43, 43 standat to each other.

Each of the symmetrical rollers is shown as formed with a deep groove44, embracing the near corner of the rail, this groove separating thetwo rolling faces 45 and 46 of the roller. Thus, referring to therighthand roller 42 in Figs. 4 and 5, its rolling face 45 rolls on therail front surface IT, while the roller face 46 runs on the rail sidesurface l9. As a whole therefore this roller straddles one of the frontor outer corners of the guide rail, giving rolling contact upon the twoadjoining rail surfaces.

In Figs. 2 to 5 is shown an advantageous structural feature permittingthe roller guide means to cooperate with the three guide surfaces of aT-rail which has a relatively narrow shank, a widely used rail form.This feature has to do with the accommodating of the diagonally oppositerollers with the narrow rail and with each other, and consists intruncating at 45 to its own axis the portion of each roller which runson the front surface I l of the rail, this shaping of the rolleraffording an annular surface 43 which is at 45 to the roller axis butstands at right angles to the rail surface IT. This truncating of oneroller is shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 5, and on Fig. 4 it isclear that the surfaces 48 of the two rollers may substantially contacteach other, although a slight clearance might be provided. This featurehowever is optional and may be omitted in such embodiments as thoseshown in Figs. 6 and 7 where the opposite rollers are spaced atconsiderable distance apart and do not require truncating.

Another feature of advantage is that each rolling contact face of eachroller 41 or 42 is not merely curved annularly about the roller axis,but is convexly curved also in its sectional contour, so that thisconvexity affords rolling contact consisting of a mere point or a verysmall area between each roller face and the smoothly finished adjacentsurface of the rail. This convexity may be determined and described asfollows. The roller face 48 which runs on the rail side may be slightlyconvex, its curvature being described about a center 50, as shown onFig. 4. Although the curvature is apparently slight it affords thedesired function, and in Fig. the curvature is somewhat exaggerated forbetter illustration of the matter, the contact point or small area 5!being the point of tangency between face 46 and surface l9. Similarlythe roller face 45 is convexly curved to afford a contact point 52, inthis case contacting the center of the front surface ll of the rail; andthe surface 45 may be described about a center 53 as indicated on Fig.4. The curved contours 45 of the two rollers are preferablycontinuations of each other, both described as arcs about the center 52.

A feature of preferred specific construction may be described asfollows. While each of the rollers might be split through, at the groove44, to form in effect two half rollers, which then could turn atslightly different speeds when in rolling motion, it is preferred thateach roller be unitary or an integral piece, as shown; and in that case,to avoid any differential rolling motion, the radius of the contactcircle 5|, and that of the contact circle 52 of the roller should beequal. In other words the construction line 54 shown on Fig. 5,connecting the points 5| and 52, should be parallel to the rotation axisof the roller, in this case at 45 to the surfaces of the rail, as shown.

By the combination of the several essential and optional featuresdescribed a highly advantageous rolling guide means is provided, whereinthe guide means embraces and runs on the three guide surfaces of therail, each of the rollers having two guide faces, each with a smallcontact area or point, and these both of the same radius, so that truerolling contact is provided throughout, minimizing wear and resultinglooseness while providing smooth, efficient and quiet running qualities.

The embodiment shown in 6 is on the principles already described. Therail Hi is here a plate or vertical steel strip, attached by a bolt orshank lfi to the shaftway wall, a structure frequently heretofore usedfor dumbwaiter guidance. The rail has side guiding surfaces I8 and H3 atthe left and right, but the front guiding surface ll is elongated orseparated into two portions, one for each of the two rollers M and 52 Onthe car 21 is a complementary pair of fixtures 27 and extending fromthese are a pair of carriers or heads Ell from which extend the diagonalstuds 35 on which the rollers are confined by nuts 38 The rollers herebeing further separated than in Fig. 4 they are not formed with anytruncated surface is and do not mutually contact in their rollingactions.

In Fig. 7 the separation of rollers shown in Fig. 6 is carried somewhatfurther, in this case the rail being split or separated into twoportions M both mounted by bolts ifi on the same shaftway wall and beingin. alinement so as to re ceive symmetrically the rolling elements M andwhich have contact with the front surfaces li and the side surfaces Wand ie of the twopart rail. In this figure the parts 2?", 3-3", 35' and35 correspond substantially with 223 393 35 and 36 in Fig. 6. Each ofthese figures is an illustration of a construction wherein the rollercarrying parts are not spring pressed on the car toward the rails, as inFig. 4, the engagement being maintained otherwise in well known manner.In the case of any embodiment the rails are preferably of cold rolledsteel or else machined at their contact surface; while the rollers arepreferably cast in brass or bronze, or other metal, although they mightbe composed of a non-metallic plastic, and in any case might be thinlycoated with a rubber or similar coating.

There has thus been described an elevator guide means embodying theprinciples and attaining the objects of the present invention; but sincemany .atters of combination, construction and arrangement may bevariously modified without departing from the principles involved, it isnot intended to limit the invention thereto except to the extent setforth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An elevator guide means adapted to cooperate with a vertical guiderail that is formed with one front and two parallel opposite sideguiding surfaces meeting at two square front corners; said guide meanscomprising a fixture mountable on the elevator car and having thereon anopposed pair of separate guide rollers collectively embracing the railand riding upon its said three guiding surfaces, at least one of saidrollers being mounted to rotate about a substantially horizontal axisdiagonally inclined to the planes of said guiding surfaces, and havingat its rim two separate rolling faces adapted to run respectively uponthe front surface and one side surface of the rail, whereby such rollerstraddles one front corner of the rail, with rolling contact at the railfront and adjacent side surfaces.

2. An elevator guide means adapted to cooperate with a vertical guiderail that is formed with one front and two opposite side guidingsurfaces meeting at two front corners; said guide means comprising afixture mountable on the elevator car and having thereon an opposed pairof separate guide rollers collectively embracing the rail and ridingupon its said three guiding surfaces, each of said rollers being mountedto rotate about a substantially horizontal axis diagonally inclined tothe planes of said guiding surfaces, and having at its rim two rollingfaces adapted to run respectively upon the front surface and one sidesurface of the rail, whereby such roller with rolling contact at centside surfaces.

3. An elevator guide means as in claim 2 and wherein each roller has adeep rim groove between the two separate rolling faces, into whichgroove extends the angular front corner of the rail.

4. An elevator guide means adapted to cooperate with a vertical guiderail that is formed with one front and two opposite side guidingsurfaces meeting at two front corners; said guide means comprising afixture mountable on the elevator car and having thereon an opposed pairof separate guide rollers collectively embracing the rail and ridingupon its said three guiding surfaces, each of said rollers being mountedto rotate about a substantially horizontal axis diagonally inclined tothe planes of said guiding surfaces, and having at its rim two camberedrolling faces adapted to run respectively upon the front surface and oneside surface of the rail, whereby each of the two rollers straddles onefront corner of the rail, with rolling contact of straddles one frontcorner of the rail,

the rail front and adjaone roller at each side surface of the rail, andof both rollers at the front surface thereof.

5. An elevator guide means adapted to cooperate with a vertical narrowguide rail that is formed with one front and two opposite side guidingsurfaces meeting at two front corners; said guide means comprising afixture mountable on the elevator car and having thereon an opposed pairof separate guide rollers collectively embracing the rail and ridingupon its said three guiding surfaces, each of said rollers being mountedto rotate about a substantially horizontal axis diagonally inclined tothe planes of said guiding surfaces, and having at its rim two rollingfaces adapted to run respectively upon the front surface and one sidesurface of the rail, whereby each of the rollers straddles one frontcorner of the rail, with rolling contact at the rail front and adjacentside surfaces; and said two rollers, at the faces thereof rolling on thenarrow front rail surface, being truncated in complementary manner,thereby forming truncation surfaces which rotate in mutual proximity orcontact with each other.

LE ROY H. KIESLING.

